Communicating the Science of COVID‐19 to Children

Abstract

This chapter describes and evaluates WUCF’s efforts to adapt their Meet the Helpers program to address the long-standing threat of a global pandemic. It offers a more detailed review of the IDEA (internalization, distribution, explanation, and action) model and introduce the concept of collective efficacy as the ultimate behavioral learning outcome desired in response to COVID’19. The IDEA model has demonstrated its utility as a viable framework for designing and distributing effective instructional messages for mitigating harm and taking protective actions, thereby, providing the theoretical grounding for this analysis. The chapter describes the adaptations made in the Meet the Helpers program to meet the challenge of collective efficacy. Meet the Helpers was distributed through a variety of channels with a consistent message about what the coronavirus is and how to stay safe and healthy. The chapter provides conclusions and recommendations for communicating collective efficacy to children in healthrelated crises such as pandemics. © 2021 John Wiley and Sons Inc.